One of the strange effects of the through-the-looking-glass presidency of Donald Trump is just who passes for a national icon. There was, of course, the spectacle of Trump’s inauguration, which was a parade of B-list entertainers and has-beens. Then there are the Cabinet appointees, many of whom would not be counted among the best and brightest even in the event of being sole survivors of a nuclear holocaust (not to give the president ideas).

And then there’s our Peter Thiel.

Thiel has rushed in to fill the vacuum left by all the business leaders–especially in Silicon Valley–who want nothing to do with Trump. With his weird ideas and dangerous beliefs, Thiel would be not necessarily be the best America has to offer despite his well-established business acumen and intelligence quotient.

The problem with Trump’s presidency is that things that would have seemed well outside the realm of normal just a year ago are now commonplace. Before we get too much further into Trump’s term, it’s worth noting just how bizarre the landscape is when Peter Thiel emerges as a giant. Just compare him to a true American icon, Warren Buffett, a billionaire many times over who like Mark Zuckerberg has joined Bill Gate’s pledge to donate 90 percent of his personal fortune in his lifetime.

Buffett is known as the Oracle of Omaha and is widely considered one of the most successful investors in the history of capitalism. He’s considered such a natural treasure that in 2008 both Barack Obama and John McCain both floated his name as a potential Secretary of the Treasury. He’s the subject of a fascinating new HBO documentary, Becoming Warren Buffett. Listening to Buffett talk, it’s clear something has changed from the time the heyday of his values. Concepts of sharing, civic duty and moral responsibility to the less fortunate dominate his conversation, values that rarely if ever come up among the new class of rich dominating the Trump cabinet and his inner circle.

Just how different is this new class from Buffett? Here are six ways to remind us just how far the rich have fallen.

1. Philanthropy

Buffett has given billions to charity and promises to give another $66 billion away during his lifetime and in his will, mostly to the Gates Foundation, to address global disease. By contrast, Thiel’s foundation is focused on his pet causes: sea steading, ending death and encouraging young people to drop out of college to join the start up world even before they learn about the world.

2. Commitment to community

Buffett casts a large shadow over Omaha, which he loves. He has long been the city’s biggest booster and gives back to his hometown. Thiel is largely MIA in the Bay Area, and gets an earful from his more liberal counterparts whenever he does venture out. In fact, Buffett does more for Thiel’s hometown, auctioning off a lunch with himself for the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco homeless charity. We don’t really know much about the remarkable tapestry of LGBTQ orgs, even in his hometown, because he rarely if ever mentions them.

3. Willingness to pay his fair share

Buffett complains that there is a class war underway and the rich are winning. Noting that he pays a lower tax rate than his employees, Buffett has said, “How can this be fair?”As a libertarian, Thiel is all about shrinking government to a fraction of its current size. Of course, that would mean some nice savings on Thiel’s tax bill, which he complains amount “confiscatory taxes.”

On Election Day, Buffett rented a trolley in Omaha and shuttled people to the polls to help increase voter turnout. “I’m really hoping we get this big turnout, just generally — forget about which side they vote for,” Buffett said. Thiel, on the other hand, has declared “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

6. Rewarding others

Buffett would be the first to admit that he’s made his share of mistakes. But on the whole, his track record is amazing. One thousand dollars invested with Buffett in 1964 would be worth about $12 million today, meaning he’s helped not just himself the little guy, too. The ones who invest their retirement savings in his funds. On the other hand, Thiel’s success rests largely on his PayPal and Facebook investments, which he largely hasn’t duplicated. In fact, at one point he managed to lose 90 percent of his hedge funds assets in just three years.

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28 Comments

Mo Bro

I think it’s awesome that Queerty has been slowly morphing from a militant gay site into a political humor site.

February 26, 2017 at 10:02am

davidkohl

I am not sure why you bother to visit this site – all we ever see is a litany of complaints, half-truths and whining coming directly under your name. Is anything written in this article inaccurate or untrue? If so then please enlighten us all. I personally see no humour in anything I have read in this article. Just the exposing of another multi-millionaire lackey of The Odious Man in the White House. Thiel is just the same as The Odious man and his super rich band of dumbos – selfish, greedy, ruthlessly exploitative and political nonentities without a drop of compassion for anyone but themselves.

davidkohl

Neonegro

Well said Mo Bro, a bad one at that….lol

February 26, 2017 at 9:02pm

mhoffman953

There is some debate about those bullet points

1. Philanthropy – Buffett has “pledged” to give $66 billion to his best friend’s charity. That isn’t a legally binding contract and many in the financial community wonder if he really give that much away or if it was a PR move to get more money into the Gates Foundation

3. Paying his fair share – Buffett doesn’t have to have a lower tax rate, but he makes sure to take every deduction possible when lowering his adjusted gross income. He has even taken the same deductions Donald Trump has taken on his taxes. If he truly wanted to then he could take a standard deduction if he felt so compelled to just give his money to the government. Then this article attack Thiel for wanting smaller government. Why is big government controlling every aspect of human life a good thing?

4. Patriotism – This is the biggest falsehood of the article. Buffett was the biggest cheerleader of the financial bailout of 2008 and used fear mongering tactics to scare the public into urging politicians to get it passed. He urged that the US government bailout Goldman Sachs because Goldman Sachs claimed they were in financial disarray. Years later we learned that Goldman Sachs lied to the American public and used a majority of the bailout money (our tax dollars) to give bonuses to their executives just like AIG did at the time, even though Buffett said we had no choice but to give them our tax money – which we still have yet to see a real benefit from doing.

6. The same could be said about many stocks if you invested in 1964. For instance, if I invested in the S&P 500 in 1964 and reinvested all of my dividends every year, I’d have well over $14 million. In one instance, Buffett was good with making money from the stock market but Thiel took nothing and turned it into PayPal. Buffett is more of a PR person at this point, if he says to buy a stock, the stock price goes up simply because of his name and not because of any real intellect, the same could be said about Carl Icahn (who endorsed Donald Trump for President).

I’m not sure why the article chose to compare Warren Buffet with Peter Thiel. Warren Buffet compared to Carl Icahn would’ve been a more fitting comparison considering the history of each.

Plus, imagine if a straight blog ran a headline like the one above stating something that a gay man should learn from a straight man. For instance what if ESPN ran a story say: 6 things gay football player Michael Sam could learn from straight football player Tom Brady

February 26, 2017 at 1:02pm

davidkohl

The only debate is this mhoffman953 – which money grabbing, selfish, greedy, right wing racist is the biggest blood sucker in Trump’s fiefdom. Mr. Thiel is amongst the front runners. Trying to muddy the waters will not work. Speculation as to what exact amount of money was given is not evidence of anything. If the man says he gave it then I believe him. He knows better than you do what he did with his own money I would suggest. As for ‘small government’ – we all know what that is shorthand for – tax cuts for the rich and cutting benefits for the poor, not to mention billions spent on weapons of mass destruction to satisfy the over powerful military lobby. Thiel represents the unacceptable face of excessively greedy capitalism, whose only motto is ‘me first, last and always’.

AlexEf

Neonegro

The complainers should go out and make their own fortune and become the billionaire they want others to be.

Thiel does not owe us anything.

February 26, 2017 at 9:02pm

mhoffman953

Plus, regardless of how you feel about Peter Thiel, at least he created some type of product / service for people to use: PayPal. What has Buffett created?

February 27, 2017 at 12:02am

davidkohl

What ‘research’ are you congratulating mhoffman953 on? A rehash of some Fox News claims? None of the things he wrote are evidence of anything other than Buffet’s generosity. It’s another right wing attempt to protect one of their own, not by showing the article to be unfounded but by falsely accusing another person. Oh and don’t even pretend that Thiel has any altruism in his blood. The ‘service’ he is associated with, ‘paypal’ , was not set up for the good of the ordinary person – it was set up to make getting their money easier for him. Finally, I have no desire to be a billionaire – I would feel disgusted having that amount of money while so may people starve through poverty. There is nothing to admire in the rich simply getting richer. The point of this article was that some of the super rich are trying to use their wealth for the benefit of others in a real way. Thiel is not one of those. How many millions or billions does one person need?

February 27, 2017 at 2:02am

mhoffman953

@davidkohl “None of the things he wrote are evidence of anything other than Buffet’s generosity”

So when Buffett advocated that the US government bailout Goldman Sachs, that was him being generous?

How did you benefit from your tax dollars going to Goldman Sachs and AIG (which they later used to give the top executives bonuses during the Great Recession)?

February 27, 2017 at 4:02am

davidkohl

Let me explain hoffman953 – I am not an American so did not benefit either way from from anything Buffett did or did not do. The crisis itself was a result of what happened in the USA and spread round the world. In that sense I have been affected. To address your point directly – decisions as to whether or not particular entities were to bailed out during that crisis were made by the government of the day based on lots of different information. Buffett added his voice like many others. Did he do this knowing that those two companies would do what they did? I doubt it – and for sure you don’t know either. I refer you back to the article where it says that Buffett is the first to acknowledge his own mistakes. You, on the other hand, have made it sound like he deliberately gave advice knowing that those companies would abuse the situation. On what basis do you make that claim? What irrefutable information do you have to prove this allegation? The very first thing I was taught at university was this – don’t claim something to be factual unless you can prove that it is.

February 27, 2017 at 6:02am

Mo Bro

@davidkohl:
Sorry to butt in on the conversation, but Mr. Kohl . . . if you aren’t an American, why so many staunch opinions on American politics? I’m genuinely curious, as there are so many foreigners on this site who complain endlessly about our system when it has no direct effect on them.

February 27, 2017 at 8:02am

davidkohl

Well Mo Bro – you may not be aware of this but generally speaking American politics has a huge effect on the world, including my country. We currently have a grovelling right wing Prime Minister determined to suck up to the repulsive occupant of the White House so that she gets a good trade deal after leaving the EU. That won’t happen. I dont know if you are aware that there has been a petition signed by 2 million people to keep your President out of the UK, because he has caused so much disgust with his vile behaviour. You may also remember that my country gave birth to yours – so there will always be that connection. The USA is supposed to be the ‘leader’ of the ‘free world’ – currently the person leading your country is hated around the entire world – except by those who are as absurd as he is of course. I am also ashamed to know that that man has something in common with me – my family is German – although I am British. The effects of the monstrous policies currently being pursued in the USA affect everyone in some way. I have a partner who is from a Muslim background for example – he would be denied entry to the USA on that basis even though he is not religious or political. It is pure discrimination. So I for one signed the petition to keep that odious man out of my country – he does not deserve a state visit and a stay with the queen. I hope that explains my strong views.

February 27, 2017 at 10:02am

Mo Bro

@davidkohl:
Thank you for the response.

February 27, 2017 at 12:02pm

mhoffman953

@davidkohl “To address your point directly – decisions as to whether or not particular entities were to bailed out during that crisis were made by the government of the day based on lots of different information. Buffett added his voice like many others. Did he do this knowing that those two companies would do what they did? I doubt it – and for sure you don’t know either”

Correct, those decisions were made by the government BUT there were people and those in government urging that Goldman Sachs and AIG should not be bailed out at the time because no bank should be too big to fail. You then talk in a condescending fashion as to what you were taught in college in a later message but apparently you never took an economics course and was taught the term “laissez faire” regarding how the government should intervene in the economy.

With that in mind, you claim Buffett would not have known those companies would use the tax payer funded bailout money for everything other than what it was intended for (even though those companies helped created the housing collapse and recession due to their greed, so we know Wall Street is greedy). If Buffett is such an economic whiz with predicting the ebbs and flows of the stock market (something not easy to do), how could he have not predicted this would happen while regular everyday people feared this would happen in regards to Goldman Sachs?

Buffett knows the executives of Goldman Sachs more than we do, he travels in the same circles and was even a significant shareholder at the time, but according to you he just couldn’t comprehend that Goldman Sachs would use taxpayer money for nothing good. Either he’s willfully ignorant or he clearly knew.

In hindsight, we now learned that Goldman Sachs wasn’t even in as bad of financial shape as it claimed it was to our government and didn’t even need bailout money. How, as a significant investor in a company, did Buffett not know the financial health of Goldman Sachs at the time to advocate for something that only end up hurting tax payers?

i would add that the area of bio hacking and the identification of the varied people into it is a much more interesting story than this never ending “Peter Thiel is bad” theme. It is undisputed that,

Gawker would still be around without Thiel. The Pewdiepie Scandal by the WSJ is a classic example of someone trying to ape Gawker.

February 27, 2017 at 12:02pm

Mo Bro

Apparently you didn’t receive the progressive memo that only rich conservatives are evil . . . rich liberals (aka celebridiots), on the other hand, they’re all altruistic angels. Even when they do things like spew more carbon into the air than a million middle-class Americans combined, they do so with impunity because they’re beyond reproach to their sycophants.

February 27, 2017 at 12:02pm

davidkohl

Tsk Tsk Mo Bro – I expected more from you than the old tactic of counter – blame. For me personally, NO ONE is beyond criticism if it is deserved. I guess if I were American I would called a ‘liberal’ – but that does not prevent me from criticising my fellow liberals when they fall below the standard – hence I think that Hilary has a share of the blame for what happened at the election. This is because it was not just a Presidential election – the Democrats failed to make any headway in Congress. This means that they failed to connect with the people who matter – the voters. That is partly her fault. You will not find any sycophant type in me I am happy to say. I wonder if you can say the same?

February 27, 2017 at 1:02pm

davidkohl

@mhofman953 – I do find it tedious and childish when a perfectly good discussion is suddenly made personal by ridiculous attacks by one or the other . To be called ‘condescending’ is as silly as it is inaccurate. I simply sated a fact. And if we really have to be picky about things let me point out this – I did not attend college – I attended a university. A college in my country is a step below a university. You see the silliness of it all? By the way, when I did attend college before university one of the qualifications required was economics. Granted not of the order that would enable me to become a financial wizard, but enough to disprove your contention that I never studied economics – despite the fact you don’t know me at all and have no idea what i studied.
I simply used the university fact to convey how I look at things – not with a closed mind but always seeking the facts – and I don’t mean ‘alternative facts’ either. You seem very motivated to find Buffett guilty of something, but you offer no real evidence for anything. You claim that he should have known they would use that money to pay bonuses. Why would he know that? Was he privy to what was in the minds of the people running those companies? Again – you don’t know. I repeat – you can’t claim something as a fact when you cannot prove it. You can speculate all you want of course.
Just in case you misinterpret my motives – I am no friend of unfettered capitalism. i think it is disgusting that individuals can have billions while other starve. But I also admire altruism. Even more than that I admire accuracy and truth – not ‘alternative facts’ and speculation.

February 27, 2017 at 2:02pm

mhoffman953

@davidkohl “You seem very motivated to find Buffett guilty of something, but you offer no real evidence for anything. You claim that he should have known they would use that money to pay bonuses. Why would he know that? Was he privy to what was in the minds of the people running those companies?”

I’m simply pointing out that Buffett isn’t a saint the way this article portrays him. I gave a fact that he advocated for bailing out Goldman Sachs – that is not an alternative fact, it is a true fact. As a smart investor, he should’ve known it was a bad move to give Goldman Sachs more money. Assuming he was oblivious to this, it indicates that he made a poor decision and has never apologized for it. Seems strange that everyday people who started the Occupy Wall Street movement knew this was a bad idea from the start but multi-billionaire Warren Buffett didn’t have a clue about it. That would be like saying George Bush shouldn’t be held accountable for claiming there were weapons of mass destruction because he just didn’t know. Buffett’s position in the financial sector gives him more insight than the rest of us. I’m not saying Buffett is a monster, I’m just pointing out that he’s not this altruistic angel like the article portrays him to be by comparing him to another billionaire.

For someone who is “always seeking the facts” you seem to want to give Buffett a pass on this issue for some reason.

February 27, 2017 at 5:02pm

davidkohl

No mhoffman953 I have no wish to give anyone in his position a ‘free pass’ . If you had read my other posts on this issue you will have read that I am very willing to criticise all sides if it is necessary. I am certainly more left wing to be sure, but that does not blind me to wrong doing or mistakes on that side of politics. As I have said at least two times now – I look for facts before making my mind up. I will give you two more – I have not claimed that Buffett is a saint – in fact I seem to recall I told you that I find wealth of that kind quite disgusting – and two, I have not said you used any ‘alternative facts’ – I said you have not proved he knew certain things about how companies would use bail-out money. That amounts to speculation – which is not a fact.
The difference between us I think is that I am willing to see the faults and criticise people from all sides if the deserve it – I am not partisan about wrong doing or incompetence. I will not accuse someone just because they are on the opposite side to me. And I don’t play the counter-blame game.
I have no doubt that Buffett, like the rest of us humans, has made mistakes. But I look at it like this – and I am not being condescending here – the ancient Egyptins believed that when you died and wanted to pass into the after-life your heart would be weighed for good and bad behaviours. If the bad outweighed the good that was curtains for you – if the opposite then you went on to the after-life. The point being that I look at people individually and see what they have done with their wealth or power for the benefit of other people. For his altruism alone, Buffett makes the grade. Mr.Thiel does not.

February 27, 2017 at 8:02pm

Neonegro

Great, a European with a muslim lover wants to tell America how to govern itself.

A western Europe which would have been colonized by either Germany or Russia if not for the united states.

A western Europe that has opened itself to Islamic cultural conquest.

Good thing we still have men and women of conviction in the USA.

February 28, 2017 at 12:02am

davidkohl

Now that I have had my breakfast and composed myself again I will add the following Neonegro – where is the integrity in using torture on people? You have a government who seem to approve of it despite being told it’s illegal and anyway does not work.
Might I remind you of the countless times the USA has directly or indirectly overthrown governments they don’t approve of – not to mention propping up the repressive right wing ones they approve of. My few comments on a gay website pail into nothingness compared to the American interference in other people’s governments. But like all Trump lackeys you are either uneducated or choose to ignore these things. In addition to the countries I mentioned earlier you can add Libya and Syria – disgraceful messes. So Neonegro let’s not be hypocritical about interference in governments of other countries.
The other two points I wanted to mention – my family are German Jews, but like my partner from a Muslim background, I am not religious, though I am very political. Is anti-Semitism also on your list for people to hate? And finally – the only convictions those right wing bullies have are the ones on their criminal records.

February 28, 2017 at 4:02am

davidkohl

Well Neonegro – it is clear where you are coming from. For ‘men and women of conviction’ read racists sexists and homophobes, not to mention uneducated dumbos. The USA has only ever acted in its own interests – I might remind you that you did not get into the 2nd world war until 2 years after it started. The 1st world war you came in a year before the end . On both occasions you were forced to come in because of attacks on your own people. You complain about being told how to govern yourselves – yet look at what you have done in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Middle East – made things a whole lot worse. I am sorry to say with British help. So let’s not get into who is responsible for what.
I have no doubt that you are a Trump lackey – a man who will cause a whole lot more trouble in the next few years due to his vile repulsive policies.
By the way – get it right – my partner is not a Muslim. I said he comes from a Muslim background but is neither religious nor political. That’s the problem with you people – you are so dumb you can’t even read properly. I have no wish to be rude to be people but if you attack me or my partner then I will forget my good manners and education and all bets are off.
The ‘men and women if conviction’ in your country were the ones who voted for Clinton. The dumbos, redneck, uneducated, racist, sexist, homophobes all voted for The Odious Man currently and illegitimately occupying the White House.